Geo-Neutrinos and the Earth’s Internal Heat Flux

Abstract

Predictions of geo-neutrino fluxes and the Earth’s internal heat flux made by the Hydride Earth model are discussed. The prediction of geo-neutrino fluxes can be consistent with experimental measured fluxes. The predicted value of the Earth’s internal heat flux is significantly larger than the value experimentally obtained under the assumption that the main mode of heat transport is thermal conductivity. We consider another mode of heat transport in the Earth’s crust: heat transport by hot gases created in the Earth’s crust at great depth. We discuss also experimental data supporting this idea, particularly the temperature profiles obtained in the Kola superdeep borehole.